The Lady and the Everlasting Knight
by gingerbychoice
Summary: TVD AU w/ made-up female protagonist! A love story spanning nearly 8 centuries, beginning during the 11th century, when Klaus meets a woman unlike any other he had met ever before...


HEY EVERYONE! So, just some basic background before you start reading: I love TVD, but something about Klaroline always irked me. I just couldn't bring myself to like them, which was strange because Klaus is probably my favorite male character (God, I love my sociopaths). Anyway, to compensate, I came up with an alternative plot line for Klaus, featuring a female character I made up entirely. This first chapter is really just a prologue and I plan on things getting much juicier, trust me. Enjoy and don't be afraid to leave comments/criticisms/concerns/etc.! I'd love to hear what you guys think!

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This evening was to going be full of surprises and scandal. Or, at least, so her brother assured her. Rebekah examined her surroundings: the florid the ball room decorated from top to bottom with sparkling ornaments and bright feelings. The room was filled to near capacity with joyous looking men and women, all vested in the most elegant formal attire they could find. Even Rebekah herself adorned the most exquisite gown she could procure on such short notice. Even then, her sequined, gold floor length gown did not make her stand out much in the crowd. But, what less could she expect? When there was a party in Mystic Falls, it was never a small engagement. However, Rebekah could sense an ominous falsity in the ostentatious environment.

She scanned the room for Elijah. She knew he would be there; he promised her that he would be there. In fact, he was the one who promised the scandal. Therefore, no Elijah; no scandal. She finally caught sight of him on the other side of the room after a few more surveys of the crowd. He was surrounded by the likes of none other than the Salvatore brothers, Elena Gilbert, Jeremy Gilbert, Caroline Forbes, Tyler Lockwood, Matt Donovan and Bonnie Bennett. Rebekah scowled towards them. Why her big brother would care to even associate himself with that group as she and Kol stood idly across the room, she could not comprehend. The brother at her side seemed preoccupied with seeking a beautiful mistress to lay prey upon later in the evening, so Rebekah focused in on Elijah's affairs across the room.

"So, seriously, why do you need us to come outside with you?" Rebekah overheard Damon inquire with a sour tone of voice.

"I'd just like all of you out there as witnesses." Elijah responded. "And I promise, just as I have promised by siblings, it's going to be particularly juicy and who would want to miss that? Besides, who knows, maybe all of you will find a way to use it to your advantage."

Damon replied again sarcastically: "Yes, well, as inquisitive as I find your use of pronouns, can't you just tell us what _"it"_ is? Like, don't get me wrong, I totally trust you and everything, you're a great original vampire who could totally rip out my heart at the quickest impulse, but I'm not sure if I feel safe participating in your juicy little… thing until I know what "it" is."

Elijah grinned. "You'll see."

Rebekah was forced out of that conversation and into one of her own when her other, other brother, Niklaus, approached her. "Well don't you two look lovely? Must run in the family, really. Isn't tonight a lovely evening? I can't wait to see how it unfolds." He said to them. Rebekah listened, but refused to look in Nik's direction, while Kol still looked preoccupied in his "quest" and hardly seems to have noticed their brother standing next to them.

"Have you spoken to Elijah at all tonight?" She asked Niklaus.

"Nope, can't say I have and I don't think I will until he unravels his big surprise, as he claims he will. Do you have any idea what he's planning on doing?"

She turned her head to reply to her brother. "No. I don't anyone does, actually, other than himself of course." She quickly glanced to her still distracted brother, Kol, then to Niklaus, and then to Elijah across the room. "You know, the four of us haven't been in a room together in over a year. I was sort of hoping that when this day did finally come it'd be a bit…warmer than it is now."

"Oh, so you're cold? I could always loan you my jacket, being the incredible big brother that I am." He responded mockingly.

She sneered right back at him. "Oh, don't be such a jack ass! Maybe this is why we haven't been together in over a year."

"No, I think it's probably because we all hate each other." Kol suddenly interjected into the conversation. He smiled at Nik and Nik smiled back. "Oh, come now, little brother, don't be so cynical. We all love each other, don't we now, sweet sister?"

They were obviously both taunting her. She knew she should've anticipated how tormenting this evening would be. She stormed off, leaving the two of them giggling beside their wits, and walked towards the refreshment table. She was about to pick up a glass of wine, when someone grabbed her by the wrist. She jerked back and looked up to see who it was. It was Elijah.

"Don't drink just yet, sister; the fun is only about to start." He smiled at her.

"Oh, come on now, just one drink. That's all I need to get me through the night." She begged.

"One: that is a lie. And, two: come now, we need to go outside. We're going to start." He let go of her hand and began to walk away, ordering her to follow him.

"What are we starting?!" She yelled. She was beyond aggravated by now and didn't care for whatever surprises or scandals Elijah had in store. She just wanted a drink. "What the hell is going on, Elijah? Please, at least just give me a hint?"

He turned around and pondered his answer for a moment. "The ghost of Christmas past." He shrugged and continued walking towards the building's back entrance.

She started following him quickly. "Ghost of Christmas… What the hell does that even mean?!"

By the time they were outside on the terrace, Rebekah could see they were last ones there. Amongst the crowd were her two other brothers and the motley crew Elijah had been with earlier. They stood sprawled across the pavement, looking clearly just as impatient and aggravated as Rebekah was with Elijah's games at this point.

As they walked outside, Damon Salvatore exclaimed: "Well, finally, everyone's here, right? So, we can start now, right? Because if this proves to be not nearly as entertaining as you promised I'll have Jeremy here stake you through the heart. He probably won't kill you, but, at the same time, you probably won't kill him, because, that's right, he's a vampire hunter and you're mentally screwed for all of eternity if you kill him."

Elijah replied briskly. "Calm your mouth and your threats, Damon. I promise to live up to every promise I made to you all this evening: completely thrilling or your money back guaranteed. Now, for those of you who are not in my family, you're here as witnesses and just for fun really. But, no, who is this night really about? My wonderful brother, Niklaus."

"Wonderful?" Niklaus sounded genuinely surprised in his response. "Now, you don't have to tell _me_ twice but I highly doubted that you thought so highly of me, brother, after the whole faking-my-own-death-and-not-telling-you thing. Glad to know that our love is eternal, though. And glad to see you by the way. It's been quite some time now since we've spoken, hasn't it?"

"Klaus, why do you want the cure to vampirism so badly?" Elijah asked.

"To absolve Elena of being a vampire and use her blood to make more hybrids. I've never tried to hide or disguise my motives and I don't feel like starting now."

"Now, tell me Klaus, do you remember exactly when you became so obsessed with making your hybrids? Or, really, I guess this question could be answered by any of my siblings. Kol, Rebekah; do either of you recall?"

Niklaus laughed. "You're taunting me now, brother."

"Am I now, brother?" Elijah said almost immediately after Niklaus's comment. Niklaus stopped grinning and began to look annoyed with Elijah. "Really now, siblings, either or you care to answer?"

Rebekah glanced at Kol, who glanced back at her. He didn't look eager to answer and looked as equally perplexed with where Elijah was planning on taking his whole scheme, but responded before she could anyway. "It was when Klaus came back. You know, he left us for some hundred and something years during the 12th century and then, when he came back to us, all he talked about was his hybrids. He kept saying how he wasn't complete without his hybrids."

"Very good, Kol!" Elijah sounded like an over-enthusiastic primary school teacher. "Now, for those of you who are confused don't worry, it will all make sense in due time."

"Elijah, where are you going with this?" Niklaus asked defensively. He still looked annoyed.

"I don't know. Where do you think I'm going with this?" Klaus didn't respond. "Oh, lighten up, brother." Elijah begged. "We're not even to the good part yet. Now, a little bit of a tangent here and a little bit of a history lesson for all of you. We originals are quite notorious characters in folklore, did you know that? You've all heard of the Curse of the Sun and Moon story? Oh, of course you have, who am I kidding? But, there is another fairytale that can be traced right back to our fateful selves. How many of you heard the story of the Lady and the Everlasting Knight?"

Rebekah looked over at everyone she was not related to standing across the terrace. Their faces were confused and blank, which shocked Rebekah. The Lady and the Everlasting Knight was one of her favorite tales.

The confusion seemed to equally shock Elijah. "No one? My, how the times have changed. I remember the days when you couldn't walk through a village without seeing the poor, peasant children reenacting it in the streets. It really is a great story though. Actually, Rebekah, it's one of your favorites isn't it? Why don't you bring everyone up to speed and just sort of give them a quick synopsis of the story."

Niklaus snapped at Elijah at this request, but he tried to cover his anger with a laugh in his voice. "Oh, why bore them with this story? No one wants to hear it obviously and it can't possibly be relevant, so just get on with whatever your plans are."

Elijah ignored Niklaus and looked at Rebekah. "Go on then, sister."

"Legend has it that there once was a man who was so cruel that a witch cursed him with eternal life. He was a powerful man, but abused his position and treated those below him as if they were dirt. The witch, who was at one point one of his servants, forced him live in everlasting servitude. He would live like all those who had ever served him, forced to obey the orders of a worthless, ignorant and abusive leaders. At one point in his life, he served a lord as a knight. He was his personal guard. This lord was rude and arrogant and loathed his lady wife because she couldn't birth him an heir; despite this, however, she was wonderfully beautiful and intelligent. The lord began using the knight an intermediary to send messages to his wife, because he didn't even want to see her, and, within good time, the knight and the lady fell in love. However, even their affection could do nothing about the fact that the lady was still married to the lord and could not neglect her vows, so, the knight started a rebellion. He loved his lady so much that he rose against the lord and killed him, freeing his wife and all the people of his manor of his oppressive rule. After the rebellion, the knight and his lady stole off in the night and were never seen again. Some people believe he found a way to give his lady eternal life as well, and they are still together to this day." Rebekah noticed how peculiarly solemn and dismal Nik's face had become as she told the story. "But what does that have anything to with… anything, Elijah?"

Elijah smiled before responding. "Did you know that story is about Niklaus?"

Almost before Elijah finished his sentenced, Niklaus attacked him, sending him flying across the terrace and into the concrete bannister that surrounded the pavement. Kol and Stefan Salvatore held Niklaus back to prevent him from attacking again, while Rebekah ran to Elijah's side to make sure he was alright. "Are you OK?" She asked him.

He lifted his head. Aside from a few bruises, he looked fine. "I don't think I'm the one you need to be asking." Elijah pointed over at Niklaus, who was still being pulled back by Kol and Stefan. He was crying and yelling, but Rebekah couldn't quite figure out exactly what for. His face appeared to be a mixture of pure rage and hatred and a little bit of remorse. "YOU PROMISED! I TRUSTED YOU! YOU SAID YOU WOULD NEVER TELL ANYONE THAT STORY! ANYONE! YOU LITTLE SON OF A BITCH!"

"Nik! Nik! NIK! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Rebekah yelled and ran over to him. "NIKLAUS I SAID STOP!" She waited until he was able to calm down to say anything more to him. He finally stopped yelling, but he was still crying and he was still flailing all over the place, so he still had to be held back. "Niklaus, is that true?" She was still yelling at him, He didn't stop to answer her question. He just nodded his head and kept crying. "Who was it?" He didn't answer. "Fine, then why didn't you just tell us?"

"For her! For her, alright?! Do you know how many people are always after me? Witches, werewolves, vampires, vampire hunters, god knows what; I'm a living target, Rebekah! And what would've been the easiest way to get to me, the easiest way to weaken me? It was through her. I didn't want that for her; I just wanted for her to be safe. I just wanted us to be happy." By the end of his comment, some sort of nostalgic force seemed to cheer him up. Most of the rage had left his face, until Elijah came up behind Rebekah, grinning. "ARE YOU HAPPY?!" He yelled. "DID YOU GET TO HAVE ALL YOUR LITTLE FUN?!" Kol, Stefan and now Tyler Lockwood had to work to hold him back. Eventually, however, he was able to free himself from their grasps. "And, by the way, it was lady Emilina. That's where I was when I left you guys; I was with her." Niklaus glanced at Rebekah. His sorrow had diffused from his face to hers. Rebekah remembered lady Emilina fondly; she was one of her handmaids. "Not than any of it matters now! She's dead, alright! She died!"

"Oh, now that doesn't make for a very good fairytale ending." It was a woman's voice, but no one knew who it was. They all looked in the direction of the voice. Standing up against one of the outside columns was short, slim, dark-haired women in a long black gown. She smiled and giggled once they noticed.

Klaus was in disbelief. "Emilina…"


End file.
